Chapter 7 Flashcards
How does being embodied also allow us to have a relationship with the world we are in?
Meditation helps us to become more embodied - connecting our mind and bodies - by paying kind attention to our felt experience, especially within our bodies.
However, we can’t do this in isolation to the world around us. We are part of the environment, just as the environment is part of us. That is, we are part of the world and the world is part of us.
Page 116-117
What is Indra’s Net and how is it relevant?
Indra’s Net asks us to imagine that reality is like a vast net of jewels and that every jewel is reflected in every other jewel.
It’s a well known metaphor used to describe the interconnectedness or perfect interfusion of all phenomena in the universe.
It teaches us that our way of being in the world affects the world, just as the world affects us.
Page 117-118 + Wikipedia
If we don’t feel that we belong in our body, how can we feel at home in the world?
Our bodies and the world are co-emergent. We need to change/shift our focus from what’s going on in our heads to just noticing how things are in the present moment - that may enable us to feel different about the world and ourselves (and allows us to let the ego step out of the way eg. Stop feeling frustrated and feeling like the world is hostile).
Page 118
How can we use meditation to feel supported by the world?
When we go to meditate, do it in a way that makes us think and therefore feel supported by the world. Use our imagination to feel the ground beneath you and the world around you. Use awareness of your breath to help you feel the connection between the universe inside you and the universe outside you.
Imagine your skin is porous and there’s no distinction between the world around you and in you.
Next imagine your breath and your awareness going out into the world.
When you’re ready, revert back to just focusing on your posture and relax for a while before ending the meditation.
Page 119-120
How does the author refer to “soul”?
He is referring to soul, not as a “thing”, but as a “quality” that is associated with an action or specific thing. It cannot be categorised or measured and cannot be rigidly defined. However, it is the quality that gives our actions their depth and meaning.
For example, he talked about using soul when singing or when cooking a meal, taking care and fully devoting yourself to the cooking.
Page 121
How is soul and meditation linked?
It is the difference between meditating from the ego (no soul) and meditating with the body (soul); the difference between meditating to be in the world (no soul) and meditating as a means to transcend the world (soul).
Page 121-122
What does the author mean by imagination?
He says soul is very much related to imagination, as opposed to fantasy (such as imaging yourself winning the lottery or being attracted to someone).
By imagination, he means invoking an image that comes from somewhere deep inside us; it is not the product of our egos.
Imagination like soul, cannot be nearly defined. It is more a matter of feeling it.
When we pay attention to the body, we open ourselves up to the imagination of soul, we open to the depths within us which might come into awareness as an image or a thought or just a feeling.
Page 122
How does the author view “soul” and “spirit”?
Spirit is our drive to “do well”.
Soul is our embodied experience. Soul keeps the spirit in the body; in terms of meditation it keeps the mind embodied.
Why shouldn’t we approach meditation purely in terms of striving, or view a meditation sit as “good” or “bad”?
It is very common for us to feel driven to “do well” in meditation, but this is not the point. We need to ground or embody our practice in our “real experience”; achieving higher states, whilst welcome and can be enjoyed, should not become the sole aim of our practice.
Likewise, we should not think in terms of having a good or bad meditation. This sort of idea arises when we think of meditation as being just about the spirit, about rising above the world. Soul keeps the spirit in the body; in terms of meditation it keeps the mind embodied.
Page 124-125
How are soul and embodiment related?
By becoming increasingly embodied, we also invite an increased sense of soul into our lives.
Soul goes against the idea of progress being linear. It takes us circular: backwards as well as forwards.
To live soulfully means to have a sense of space and time in our lives, time for reflection, time to allow our experience to mature and deepen within us.
The most important thing a meditation practice offers us is a space to just “be”.
Page 127
Meditation offers us …
Meditation offers us the space and time we need to come home to ourselves, and in this coming home we also come into a deeper relationship with soul, which is both the most intimate and the most universal aspect of ourselves.
Page 127
